La. black farmers among those now receiving payments from settlement

12:41 PM,
Sep. 28, 2013

Written by

Deborah Barfield Berry
Gannett Washington Bureau

After years of waiting, black farmers began receiving payments this week as part of a $1.2 billion settlement in their discrimination case against federal agriculture officials.

About 18,000 farmers are expected to get checks over the next few days. Many live in the South, including some in Central Louisiana.

"After all these years and all the fighting, this is what it's all about," said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, which pushed Congress for the settlement. "It doesn't take away what the government has done to us, but for those who receive the payments, it ...